Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic coming to Liberty State Park in June

Star-Ledger file photoA polo match at Bucks Mill Park at the International Polo Club of Colts Neck.

Over the years, the traditional American sports in Hudson County have had to share the local stage lesser known -- at least to the locals -- sports.

While you can find kids playing baseball, football and basketball, soccer has become hugely popular.

You'll now even find rugby and cricket leagues competing on dusty fields from Bayonne to Secaucus.

Now Hudson County will be making some room for polo after officials announced that the prestigious Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic will be played at Liberty State Park in Jersey City in June.

The game is expected to bring the sport’s top stars to the state park that offers the Statue of Liberty and new York skyline as a jawdropping backdrop.

The Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic had been held at Governors Island in New York since 2008, but a construction project scuttled those plans this year. The search for an alternate location led the event’s organizers across the Hudson River to New Jersey.

The fifth annual event, expected to draw celebrity participants and guests, is scheduled for June 2 in the “green ring’’ at Liberty State Park. More than 5,000 spectators will get to watch Nacho Figueras and his Black Watch team compete against some of the world’s best polo players.

"It’s part of our effort to make this park more of a destination for New Jersey residents and persons from other states to come here and visit Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, New Jersey’s 9/11 Memorial, the Liberty Science Center, or just take in the incredible views of New York’s skyline and enjoy our park,’’ said Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said in a statement.

Tickets for the event are $25 and must be purchased in advance. Tickets include ferry transportation to and from Manhattan to Liberty State Park, or shuttle service from the Liberty State Park Station on NJ Transit’s Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line. All guests must arrive via ferry or Light Rail as no parking will be provided onsite for the event.

The event will benefit a charity to be announced in the coming weeks by Veuve Clicquot, and will include a donation to the nonprofit Friends of Liberty State Park. Liberty State Park will remain open during this event. All areas outside of the polo grounds will be available to the public.

In the words of Ed Norton and Ralph Kramden, we are looking forward to seeing a "string of po-lop-pon-ees."